Fort Collins open-space purchase fiscal folly

In theory, this area of separation would involve almost 32 square miles of property.
In 1995, as part of this process, one of the larger land parcels in this corridor area — a total of 960 acres — was presented to the Larimer County Commissioners for development review under a planned unit development. On Jan. 23, 1995, the PUD was approved as the McKee Charitable Trust Master Plan and Preliminary Phase Plan.
The Master Plan showed 318 single-family lots on the northernmost 150 acres of the property, with the remaining contiguous 810 acres planned as open space.
Because the…